Ultimate fighterAmputee goes to the mat to redefine limits in athletics

By STEVE HUMMER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 08/14/07

Because Kyle Maynard works the fringes of the possible, he has been the subject of numerous news reports, a professional inspirational speaker and the author of an autobiography shortly after leaving Collins Hill High School in Suwanee.

He is almost, by trade, one who argues with the accepted view of what a body, however physically incomplete it may be, can do.

Tuesday came his most audacious challenge yet. He rolled his wheelchair into a small meeting room in Atlanta and asked Georgia's boxing commission to accept an entirely different vision of a competitor.

A fighter without fists. A kick boxer without legs. A full partner in the often brutal world of ultimate fighting born without what could be considered the most essential tools of the business.

Born with a condition known as "congenital amputation" — his arms stop before the elbow, his legs are practically nonexistent — Maynard constantly put himself in the unlikeliest of situations. He played youth football in Gwinnett. He wrestled in high school and briefly at the club level at the University of Georgia. He has competed in the sports of grappling and jujitsu. At each step, the message always has been: Yes, you can.

Then came this Tuesday from the state authority regulating boxing: No, you cannot.

All four members of the five-person Georgia Athletic and Entertainment Commission in attendance voted to deny Maynard, 21, a license to fight on a Sept. 14 card in Duluth.

Himself in a wheelchair as a former police officer wounded in the line of duty 20 years ago, commission chairman J.J. Biello said, "It's difficult because I know my limitations. I have to realize what they are. It's difficult because here's somebody who has gone beyond anybody's expectations. But I think the safety issue is too great."

Maynard, local promoter David Oblas and attorney Jeff Dickerson argued before the commission that Maynard faced risks no greater than any other fighter's.

Because he was going to fight as an amateur, Maynard would have competed under a different set of rules than those that guide the popular, professional ultimate fighting.

In the pro version, fighters punch and kick and attempt to lock up an opponent in submission holds. Amateurs in Georgia are not allowed to throw punches to the head or kick an opponent who is down on the ground. And because of Maynard's condition, it could be argued that he always was fighting from a "grounded" position.

"I'm not out to prove I can defend myself," Maynard said. "I'm out to prove I can keep someone else from defending himself."

"If they [the commission] understood the sport, they'd see it in a different light. People who understand the sport and understand the rules that I'm competing under get it."
Biello cited one amateur ultimate fighting event he atended in which a fighter punched another while he was down. Fouls happen, he said, especially when the adrenaline is running high.

"He is a fantastic young man, but we all are concerned about safety. This is a dangerous sport," the commission chairman said.

From an opponent's point of view, he would be limited to largely grappling with Maynard, limited by the amateur rules to punches to the body and to attempting to tie him up in some type of submission hold.

"He can defend against any technique that can be used against him and actually has somewhat of an advantage in some cases," his attorney said. "A lot of the techniques the fighters use focus on the arms and legs – arm bars, knee bars. It grossly limits the ability of the other fighters to attack him.

"He's fought against competitors with full arms and full legs his entire life. Whoever he fights probably hasn't fought against somebody like Kyle."

Maynard had hoped to fight on a card at Wild Bill's. He had competed there before in grappling exhibitions, but this was to be a significant step up.

As a wrestler, Maynard, now 125 well-muscled pounds, compiled a 35-16 varsity record at Collins Hill. As a club wrestler at UGA, he said he was 12-10. According to affidavits from two of his current trainers, he has shown the ability to tie up opponents on the mat and compete in mixed martial arts on an amateur level.

In a closed-door meeting with the commission, Maynard argued that he was able to defend himself from blows to the body, while maintaining the ability to deliver short, sharp blows himself.

"I can defend myself and I have a decent shot of winning," he said before the meeting. "I don't think there's any question I can make a decent fight. I can be competitive with anyone in any weight class.

"I understand the concerns. Every fighter, able-bodied or not, has a chance of something happening. I understand there's a risk involved, but I don't think my risk is any greater than anyone else's."

Like many others in his age group, Maynard calls himself a huge fan of ultimate fighting. "It's something I love deep down," he said. For the last year and a half, he has been training for a shot to join the action. He spent Monday night sleeplessly anticipating the next morning's meeting, his goal so close.

Instead, he emerged a philosophical question rather than a fighter: Where does a person's right to set his own level of risk end and the state's obligation to protect him begin?

"Who are we — who is the state — to say he can't challenge himself?" Dickerson wondered.

From here, Maynard can appeal to the commission – "just a formality," Dickerson said. He can challenge the ruling in court. Or he can seek out a fight in another state, one with a different commission or no commission oversight whatsoever.

Bitterly disappointed, Maynard's initial reaction was one of defiance.

"Training for something like this, it was more than wrestling. It was more than anything I've ever done before," he said. "I put myself through a lot. Hours every day. It was one of the toughest things I ever had to do.

"I know I'm going to fight. I don't care where. I'm going to fight, count on it. They could have let me do it here. They could have let me do it safe. I don't care. I'm going to do it."

A previous thread on Bullshido here first noted Kyle's inspiring ambition to overcome his physical attributes to compete in mixed martial arts competition.
You can check out his website here: http://www.kmaynard.com/

The street argument is retarded. BJJ is so much overkill for the street that its ridiculous. Unless you're the idiot that picks a fight with the high school wrestling team, barring knife or gun play, the opponent shouldn't make it past double leg + ground and pound - Osiris

I wish I believed that the committee had asked simple relevant questions like, "what kind of submissions can you execute." Cause those should have been the focus, and I for one am curious about the answers.

From an opponent's point of view, he would be limited to largely grappling with Maynard, limited by the amateur rules to punches to the body and to attempting to tie him up in some type of submission hold.

"He can defend against any technique that can be used against him and actually has somewhat of an advantage in some cases," his attorney said. "A lot of the techniques the fighters use focus on the arms and legs – arm bars, knee bars. It grossly limits the ability of the other fighters to attack him.

This is the part that bothered me all along. I was wondering about whether or not his opponent would even be able to strike with the guy. Apparently the answer would be no. Based solely on this, I would deny him as well.

To be honest (and you may think I'm a bad guy for it, but I don't mind that) I could give a **** about Maynard's well being or safety in the ring. I'm sure he could defend himself just fine, and he obviously believes the same thing, but the fact is that the rules would change for his opponent and I don't like that. It basically forces an MMA match to transform into a grappling match. He should just stick to grappling, or fight somewhere with Pride's rules so his opponent wouldn't be forced to forsake half his game..:new_evil: I'd pay to see that

Last edited by SpringHeeledJack; 8/15/2007 1:40pm at .
Reason: I forgot my last bracket and fucked up my quote.

Now lovely Lucifer, in hell so stark
King, and lord of sin and pride
With some mist his wits make dark.
He send thee grace to be thy guide

The street argument is retarded. BJJ is so much overkill for the street that its ridiculous. Unless you're the idiot that picks a fight with the high school wrestling team, barring knife or gun play, the opponent shouldn't make it past double leg + ground and pound - Osiris

His heart was visible, and the dismal sack that maketh excrement of what is eaten.

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Originally Posted by UpaLumpa

Stupid. There is no way any commission should allow this, glad this one didn't. This guy is a selfish jackass.

I personally wouldn't go so far as to call the kid a selfish jackass. He's trying to do something unique, and challenge himself, and all that. But, I agree that no commission should allow this. Who would want to fight a dude with no arms or legs, anyway? Talk about a no win situation.

So let me understand the gist of Maynard's argument: MMA is safe for quadraplegics because he's going to exploit a series of loopholes in the ruleset so that his opponent will only be permitted to punch him in the stomach and choke him, assuming he could find an opponent comfortable with the idea of beating up a humorless congenital amputee perpetually ejaculating a ceaseless stream of self-help cliches all over the mat.

Whenever I hear a Kyle Maynard article I always think of a very select type of patronizing jock from high school, the Aryan poster child with a great feigned love for everyone. The kid who wore his varsity jacket out in public but insisted his real future was in some specific, dispassionate business, the sort of fellow who not only believed in hard work, but told people he believed in hard work. Someone who could quote selected passages from the select works of Donald Trump and Robert Kyosaki, a sort of insane reverence for faded ideals and pale constructs and chaotic banality. Someone who would actually read Who Moved My Cheese?.

The great thing about these people is they always, always die in car crashes on prom night or graduations, and their mortality rate is astoundingly low. Most descend into alcoholism before 20 and are seldom heard from again. Maynard survived that pitfall. He can't drive and at 125, probably gets loaded off a couple Bacardi Breezes. Worse yet, all the special praise and attention lavished upon him for BEATING THE ODDS by not THROWING HIMSELF DOWN A FLIGHT OF STAIRS made his already bloated sense of self-entitlement swell out of control like an untreated tumor until it lead to a series of increasingly self-aggrandizing books/lectures/seminars, placing him in exactly the wrong field of work for someone with permanently deranged self-esteem. At this point, is it any wonder he thinks fighting MMA is a realistic goal?

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